Dinosaur Train to chug into Phillipsburg

The Dinosaur Train will visit Delaware River Railroad in Phillipsburg (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO / THE MORNING CALL)

Join Buddy and the other dinosaurs from the Jim Henson hit series “Dinosaur Train” and take a ride on the “Dinosaur Train” Saturday, Sunday and Aug. 22 and 23 in Phillipsburg.

Delaware River Railroad is hosting the event with real train rides patterned after the PBS cartoon series.

A 20-minute train ride will take kids to the Nature Trackers activity area, where they can explore, play and learn about life science, natural history and dinosaurs. The railroad has built a Dinosaur Train village near the site of its Ol' Susquehanna mine. On the way out kids will get PBS' Nature Trackers Club Guide Books that outline challenges kids can do at the village.

Challenges include “tracking,” in which kids can follow life-size dinosaur footprints on the ground and find out which (inflatable) dinosaur the prints belong to and “collecting,” in which kids receive a bag of fossil-bearing ore and learn to pan for the fossils.

Kids will get a Nature Trackers membership card and a souvenir Dinosaur Train ticket punched by the conductor.

They can see a display of inflatable dinosaurs from the show and meet Buddy and get a photo with him.

Kids also can get Dinosaur Train temporary tattoos, make spin art and find dinosaur skeletons in an archaeology dig.

Field paleontologists Mike and Roberta Straka will present a show about the formation of fossils and herbivores vs. carnivores. The presentation will feature Mr. Nixon, a real 8-foot triceratops skull discovered by the Strakas' team in 1996, and an Albertosaurus skull. Included are original music, show and tell with fossils and an “egg magic trick” that reveals a dinosaur egg fossil.